1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of waterslides traversed by buoyant bodies. The invention concerns an improved one person inflatable flotation tube with a coupling enabling the tubes to be joined into lines and arrays for use in water sports and on waterslides, and an improved waterslide having a sluice width substantially in excess of the width of buoyant bodies traversing the waterslide. The sluice has uphill banked turns fed by supplemental water supplies, which turns are traversed by said flotation bodies as well as by lines and arrays of flotation bodies.
2. Prior Art
A waterslide typically involves a path with an elongated trough or sluice through which water flows, the trough defining a continuously downward flow path. The waterslide riders float down the waterslide on a shallow stream of water which flows continuously downhill in the trough at the same velocity as the riders. The flow of water is controlled by the contour of the sluice, with a predetermined amount of water flowing into the sluice at the top, or perhaps at the top of a particular downhill run along the sluice. The sluices or waterslides can lead to intermediate pools, and outlets from the intermediate pools lead to further slides, etc. The sluice typically defines a sinuous path, and the curves are correspondingly banked such that the flow of water due to inertia is not restricted to the lowest cross-sectional portion of the sluice, but rather rises somewhat along the sides of the sluice. Accordingly, in traversing turns the riders become canted to an angle defined by the surface of the water flowing around the turn. The water which flows into the sluice at the top traverses the sluice and exits at the bottom, a pump frequently being used to recycle the water from the bottom pool to the starting or top pool.
The flow of water along a waterslide sluice is to some extent similar to the flow of water employed on sliding boards used at swimming pools. In the typical swimming pool sliding board, a traditional sliding board is supplemented by a thin film of water flowing onto the slide at the top from a line of inlets spaced across the width of the sliding board. This water prevents friction between the wet swimming suit of the slider and the surface of the sliding board. The water flows directly down the slide in the same direction as the slider. Waterslides are similar in that water flows along with the rider, however the flow is typically deeper, whereby the rider can float on the current using a flotation device.
Waterslide riders can traverse the slides with or without flotation devices, however flotation devices are preferred due to their ability to protect the rider from friction with the sluice and to support the rider in the relatively deeper water as compared to water used to wet a sliding board. Whether a particular waterslide sluice is arranged for persons or flotation devices is usually a matter of the width of the sluice and the flow of water.
The sluice width is arranged such that the rider or the rider's flotation apparatus is guided between the sidewalls. The rider or flotation device cannot easily turn laterally to the flow and either block traffic or subject the rider to friction along the sluice sides above the water level and/or a strong flow of water passing by.
Air mattresses have often been used for flotation in waterslide parks. However, an air mattress is not a stable or comfortable support for a rider traversing a sinuous path. The rider must lie prone on an air mattress, face up or face down. The prone rider cannot see the upcoming portions of the track as well as a sitting rider, which detracts from the excitement of the ride. There is also a danger of collision with other riders, particularly because the rider may allow his or her head to protrude over the forward end of the air mattress.
Tubular flotation devices are well known for water sports. The inner tubes of vehicle tires are often used for flotation in swimming pools and lakes and are sometimes pulled behind boats. Such tubes can be used to traverse the sluices of waterslide parks. Tubes are convenient flotation devices because a person can sit comfortably upright in the central opening defined by the tube, with the user's legs hanging over the sides. Durable versions of the tubes have been developed to resist damage from friction, for example the friction occurring between the tube and the sides of waterslide sluices. Such tubes, for example are made of resin embedded in a fiber as the wear-resistant external skin of an inflatable tube. Such tubes are also known with handles on the top surface, to be engaged by the rider when sitting in an upright position. Due to these beneficial attributes, tubes have become a preferred form of flotation device for waterslide parks wherein the riders traverse a sluice on an individual flotation device.
Riders of waterslides frequently attend in groups. Members of the group are desirous of traversing the slide together. While traversing the sluice one after another is in a sense traversing the sluice together, riders also sometimes will join hands and traverse the slide single file. Of course when joining hands it is not possible to maintain a hold on any handles that may be provided on the rider's tube.
In order to serve the user's desires, park operators have designed a double tube or "double doughnut" wherein an inflatable body in a figure eight shape provides apertures for two riders to sit. As a result of the integral structure of such double capacity tubes, however, the device is relatively rigid along its longer dimension, causing added wear on the tube in traversing curves, and causing some problems in wider areas such as pools, should the large double tube be turned sideways to the major direction of water flow and traffic. The double tubes do not bend laterally to follow the sinuous path of the sluice to the same extent as individual tubes. Similarly, double tubes cannot bend easily through vertical digressions along the path, such as bumps and dishes.
These double tubes have been provided with handles in the same manner as single tubes and have also been provided with V-shaped leading bows or prows such that the tubes are somewhat like a boat with a tapering front and a blunt stern, being thereby more apt to proceed along the desired path, i.e., the longitudinal centerline of the waterflow. Nevertheless, the double tubes are large and unwieldy as compared to single tubes and thus leave something to be desired.
In order to avoid problems with blockage, wear and collisions, while maintaining the capability of carrying a plurality of riders, a means to allow an angular deflection between individual tubes is contemplated according to the present invention. To further maintain the ability to use the same apparatus for individual riders, the invention employs a coupling that is easily engaged and somewhat less easily disengaged. The coupling permits any number of tubes to be joined into a line, defining an articulation which can optionally fix two tubes in a line or provide freedom to flex in two mutually perpendicular directions. This is done with a vertically downwardly oriented prong member that engages with a corresponding ring of a next identical tube. By lifting the prong end of one tube to be connected, or pressing the ring end of a tube downwardly into the water, the rider can engage one tube with another to provide a composite multi-seat tube structure that easily traverses curves due to its articulation at the coupling. The articulation can be limited by including a coupling ring spaced laterally of the prong of each tube according to a further feature of the invention. The coupling part carrying the prong preferably also carries the ring, and a further ring is provided on each tube at an opposite end to achieve the alternative connection permitting flexing around the axis of the prong. In this manner, the one person tubes can be connected into a very flexible line, or alternatively connected into a substantially fixed array of any number of tubes by connecting the couplings of a plurality of tubes in facing relationship. A four tube array is facilitated by providing a V-shaped prow or bow to each of the tubes at the end of the tube having the prong and ring coupling elements.
In accordance with the invention, a waterslide of the known type can accommodate tubes in a linear array, and a waterslide which is substantially wider than an individual tube can accommodate arrays of any number of riders. Furthermore, single file connected tubes traversing the wider waterslide can follow rider-selected trajectories through turns. The invention thus opens numerous new possibilities for waterslides, while improving their performance, enjoyability and safety.
Inasmuch as the waterslide will accommodate arrays of tubes, the sluice width is made sightly more than twice the width of a tube. Tubes in a line will speed along with gravity as the rear portions of the line urge the front portion forward and are not limited to the velocity or path of the waterflow. The flow of water in the sluice follows the usual inertial flow pattern, with water rising on the outside wall of the sluice at curves. However, in addition to accommodating inertial variations in the vertical depth of water in the sluice, the invention includes extreme banking and uphill stretches along the sluice at the outside edges of curves downstream of downslopes, which the tubes or lines of tubes can follow along a trajectory of choice. A proficient rider coming to a curve after a downhill stretch thus has the ability to slide on the sluice walls at the high side of the curves and can clear the inertial water flow. To enable the riders to thereby skim along the uphill running outside walls of curves along the path, additional water is added to the flow at the uphill running outside walls. The added water is not subject to inertial forces as is the water proceeding directly down the sluice. The added water thus does not carry the rider along but instead provides a thin layer of low friction over which the rider can skim. With these improvements, the sluice permits a great number of opportunities for enjoyment and is substantially improved over the known waterslide sluice wherein the riders simply move along the waterflow path.